1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a papers feeding device for feeding papers, such as bills piled in an accommodation unit or the like, onto a paper path one piece by one piece, and more particularly relates to a papers feeding device with a simple configuration, capable of normally feeding papers even when there are height differences, such as undulations, slopes and the like on the uppermost surface of piled papers.
2. Description of the Related Art
For a printer, a copy machine, a bill depositing/drawing device, such as an automated teller machine (ATM) or the like, conventionally a papers feeding device for feeding papers, such as bills piled in an accommodation unit or the like, onto a paper path one piece by one piece is widely used. A general papers feeding device comprises a pair of right and left pickup rollers and a plurality of feed rollers disposed in a forward direction of these pickup rollers. In this case, each pickup roller touches the uppermost surface of the papers being orthogonal to the carrying direction of the papers and feeds them, and each feed roller sends the papers forwards.
However, sometimes height differences, such as undulations, slopes and the like due to deformation, such as creases, folding traces or the like, are generated on the uppermost surface of piled papers. In such a case, one of the pair of right and left pickup rollers does not touch the paper to cause the tilt or jam of papers. Thus, conventionally a variety of papers feeding devices in which the pair of right and left pickup rollers can touch the uppermost surface of the papers even when there are height differences, such as undulations, slopes and the like on the uppermost surface of piled papers are proposed.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H06-48594 proposes a papers feeding device 100 in which, as shown in FIG. 7, a pair of right and left pickup rollers 111 and 112 can touch the uppermost surface of the papers P according to the inclination of the piled papers P by fixing the pair of right and left pickup rollers 111 and 112 to a shaft 120 and supporting both ends of the shaft 120 by an automatically shaft adjusting bearings 131 and 132.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H07-41186 proposes a papers feeding device 200 in which, as shown in FIG. 8, a supplementary support plate 211 that can be swung on both sides is provided on a tray for piling papers P and a pair of right and left pickup rollers 221 and 222 touch the uppermost surface of the papers P by tilting the supplementary support plate 211 in such a way as to kill the inclination of the uppermost surface of the papers P.
However, in the papers feeding device 100 of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H06-48594, since the pair of right and left pickup rollers 111 and 112 are independently driven vertically, the pair of right and left pickup rollers 111 and 112 must be provided with motors 141 and 142, racks 143 and 144, springs 145 and 146, and height position detecting sensor 151 and 152, respectively to incur the complex configuration due to the increase in the number of parts and the increase of an installation space. Furthermore, the complex configuration incurs the degradation of the reliability of the device, and is not suited for a bill depositing/drawing device, such as an ATM or the like, whose operational failure must be avoided with the highest priority.
In the paper feeding device 200 of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H07-41186,since a front guide or a means for attaching and removing additional force must be provided to hold the papers onto an unstable supplementary support plate 211, it incurs the complex configuration due to increasing the number of parts and the degradation of the reliability of the device. It is not suited for a bill depositing/drawing device, whose operational failure must be avoided with the highest priority, like Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H06-48594.
Patent Reference 1 : Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H06-48594
Patent Reference 2 : Patent Application Publication No. H07-41186